airplane propeller. In the first-time-ever wind-tunnel testing of full-size propellers in 1909, Olmsted perfected his design and his theory of propellers. Such increases in efficiency were crucial for the successful operation of the early Transatlantic Flying Boats, like the America (1914) and the four Curtiss NCs (1919), all of which utilized Olmsted propellers. After final testing on July 12, 1914, in preparation for the planned Transatlantic flight, Glenn Curtiss publicly announced the Olmsted propellers, “the finest and most efficient I have ever seen.” Two years after developing the propeller equations in 1908, Olmsted formed a syndicate with the Buffalo Pitts Company to develop for mass-production a prototype plane. Founded in 1851, the Buffalo Pitts Company had grown to be the world’s largest producer of threshers and steam-traction engines. Located on the Erie Canal in the port area of Buffalo, the “Queen City of the Lakes”, the company had shipped farm equipment to all corners of the globe (pl. 3). In the fall of 1909 Charles Olmsted had set up an aerodynamic laboratory on the third floor of the Buffalo Pitts building, where he would test his already-developed mathematical techniques for producing a “minimum-induced-loss” propeller. The main draw for Olmsted was the vast electrical dynamos of Niagara Falls, supplying power to the Pitts Company, which would enable him to use controllable large-horsepower electric motors to produce high-velocity wind to test propellers and plane models accurately in a wind-tunnel. In the spring of 1910 Olmsted led an attempt by the Pitts company to begin the production of airplanes in contrast to the steam tractors they were producing. He began by designing and constructing a prototype plane of solid construction, as opposed to the ultra-light construction of the day, a plane which would have inherent stability and an efficient stream-lined profile. The plane was as light and graceful as the Pitts company’s steam engines were heavy and cumbersome. Unfortunately, the Buffalo Pitts Company was too late in its attempt to diversify and fell a victim to the depression of 1912-14. Nearly completed by 1912, the Olmsted monocoque Bird would be one of the first true solidly-built “airplanes” of scientifically engineered design and structure ever to be constructed. Its wings were made of thin-gauge chrome-vanadium steel sheets, aluminum, and basswood laminations, all firmly riveted together. Its fuselage, like that of the Spruce Goose despite its name, was molded of monocoque laminated birch. Careful testing